Registration is still a hot issue for China’s long-suffering house churches. The government insists on registration as the only means of legal existence for Protestant and Catholic churches. In practice, registration means subjection to the Communist Party’s Religious Affairs Bureau and other party organs, all of which are controlled by atheists.
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) urged prayers for a jailed Christian Internet writer Zhang Shengqi and other Christian contacts who were arrested amid a crackdown against house churches across China,
Bishop Ding, the most influential leader of the state-controlled Chinese “Three Self” Protestant church, has significantly stepped up his anti-Christian “theological construction” campaign in recent months.
Chinese Christian Zhang Yi-nan was badly beaten by fellow inmates last Monday at the Ping Ding Shan City Lao Dong Jiao Yang Suo. It was Zhang’s first day as an inmate at the “re-education through labor” facility where he is serving a two-year sentence.
At 4 a.m. on Sunday morning 13 July, officers of the Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) raided a house church prayer meeting in Xiao Shan City, Zhejiang Province. The prayer meeting was broken up, the Christians assaulted, and three leaders were arrested. One of those arrested was Shao Cheng Shen (80), who co-founded the church 25 years ago. The church, which now has some 1,500 members, is linked to “The Little Flock” of Watchman Nee.
Mrs. Gou Qinghui, wife of imprisoned house-church Christian Xiao Bi-guang, finally received official notification of her husband’s arrest at 5 p.m. today. Chinese law states that the families of arrested persons will be notified within 24 hours of arrest; Xiao was arrested September 26.
Mrs. Ding Guizhen, a house church Christian in Henan Province, China, was released last Saturday after 15 days of so-called Administrative Detention.
The location where two Chinese house-church Christians are being held has been revealed by a Voice of the Martyrs source within the Chinese government.
Mr. Xiao Bi-guang and Mr. Zhang Yi-nan were arrested last Friday morning in Ping Ding Shan city, Henan Province, China. Sources in China reported that more than 20 Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers made the arrest. The location where the two men are being held is unknown at this time. Their families have received no official notification, in violation of Chinese law which says the family of arrested persons will be notified of their location within 24 hours after arrest.
Three Chinese church leaders incarcerated since July 13 were released after international pressure mounted due to publicity of their case.
The Voice of the Martyrs has learned that house church leader Guoxing (Philip) Xu has been sentenced to 18 months of so-called “re-education through labor” after his arrest for leading a house-church service last month.
The spread of the SARS virus has not distracted Chinese officials from their campaign against unregistered churches. At least 52 key house church leaders have been arrested in recent months. Police also arrested and fined hundreds of “ordinary” Christians in the first four months of 2003.
Two South Korean pastors and two laymen, imprisoned in China because of their pastoral and humanitarian work among North Korean refugees, await court decisions on their fate.
On July 13, police raided a house church in Xiaoshan City, Zhejiang province, China, and arrested at least three church leaders. According to a China Aid Association press release dated July 24, the raid came at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning while the Christians were meeting for prayer and worship.
(Probably 80 percent of the house church leaders in China know or have heard the name of this house church leader, but he asked that his name not be used. Possibly as many as 2 million Christians are involved in his house church network. He has been arrested several times and imprisoned a total of 10 years for his faith in Jesus Christ. He spoke recently with an Open Doors team. The following is his testimony.)
(Voice of the Martyrs) — A Chinese house church leader is on the run from Public Security Bureau officers after his church was raided February 9.
At about 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 5, 2003, approximately 10 unidentified men burst into the home of Brother Hua Huiqi and his wife, Ju Mei in Beijing. Forcing all of the members of the household, including Hua’s elderly parents, to lay on the floor, the attackers savagely beat the family, breaking one of the legs of Hua’s 80-year-old father. They then confiscated all of the home’s portable heaters, leaving the family to suffer from the cold of winter. It is believed that the intruders were either sent by the police or could even have been plain-clothes policemen.
The letter outlines inconsistencies between the way the retrial was handled by judges of the Jingmen City Middle Court and the mandates of China’s criminal court statutes. “The families of all the victims feel deeply sad and worried about the result,” the letter states. Complete text of the letter is available on the VOM web site at www.persecution.com.
Four female leaders of the South China Church, an unregistered house church network, were declared innocent by the Hubei Provincial Court on October 11. However, only hours after their release they were re-arrested by the Public Security Bureau and sent to three years of “re-education through labor.”
The treatment of Chinese Christians–who now outnumber Chinese Communist Party members–must be placed near the top of the agenda when President Bush meets Friday with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
